The New York Islanders announced today that forward Micheal Haley has been recalled from loan from the Bridgeport Sound Tigers of the American Hockey League. Haley’s first call-up of the season comes after the Islanders placed defenseman Mark Eaton on injured reserve with a left knee MCL sprain.

Haley, 25, has one goal and two assists in 16 games this season with the Sound Tigers. He ranks second on the team with 32 penalty minutes.

A native of Oshawa, ON, Haley played 27 games for the Islanders last season, scoring two goals and an assist for three points. He also accumulated 85 penalty minutes.

Haley received his first NHL call-up during the 2009-10 season, when he played in two games and had nine penalty minutes. Over the last four seasons, Haley has played in 212 AHL games with the Sound Tigers, scoring 51 points (26 goals and 25 assists) and totaling 546 penalty minutesno comments

Last night’s 5-0 loss to Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburg Penguins was a tough game to watch. The Islanders have had several of those types of games this season, to the dismay of the fans of course. And as the Islanders slip to the bottom of the east, and the NHL, said fans are looking for blood with some calling for Capuano to be fired.

But how fair is to blame Jack Capuano for this mess? Following the 6-0 loss to the Boston Bruins, Capuano tried to inject some fire into his team with a passionate post game presser.

“When you play this game, you need to play with fire, you need to play with passion, you need to play with determination, you need to play with desperation,” Capuano said following the loss to Bruins. “You need to have ice bags after a game, maybe a little blood dripping right now. When you lace your skates us, the guy across from you and the guy on the left and the right of you, they need to know that you’ve got their back and are going to play for one another and that just didn’t happen tonight and I don’t have the answers why.”

Chris Botta of the New York Times also reported that Capuano held a “lengthy team meeting in the Islanders’ locker room at Nassau Coliseum” following the Bruins debacle.

Capuano has done everything from staying positive, which he did possible too long, to vocalizing his agitation to the media and players. He’s sat Okposo, Comeau, Dipietro to try and send a message to the players and the team, yet they still come up short night in and night out.

At this point it’s on management to make moves, whether that means bringing in help from Bridgeport or bring in help from outside the organization, and the players finding their own motivation to turn things around.

It’s hard to blame the man who has done everything, but lace up skates and jump on the ice himself, to turn around this team.

The hockey world has descended on Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for tonight’s Islanders – Penguins. The reason, of course, is the return of superstar Sidney Crosby who’s has not played in a game since January 5.

Islanders’ head coach Jack Capuano announced this afternoon that Nino Niederreiter will sit out tonight’s game along with winger Blake Comeau. In their place will be Kyle Okposo, playing in his first game since November 13, and David Ullstrom, who will make his NHL debut tonight.

Mike Mottau will also sit for the Islanders tonight.

Anders Nilsson will make his first NHL start in net. Nilsson was called up on Saturday after Evgeni Nabokov went down with a groin injury on Thursday. He was 5-2 with 2.86 goals against average with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. Nilsson played in 40 minutes of Saturday night’s 6-0 loss, with Nilsson giving up three of the goals.

The Penguins come into tonight’s game off back-to-back losses the Lightning and Panthers respectively.

Earlier today the Islanders announced the call up of forward David Ullstrom from the Bridgeport Sound Tigers.

This season Ullstrom leads the Sound Tigers with 14 points (12 goals and two assists) in 17 games. He is also tied for the AHL goal scoring lead. The former 2008 fourth round draft pick will make his debut tomorrow against the Penguins.

Notes

- Kyle Okposo will also be back in the line up for the New York Islanders tomorrow night in Pittsburgh. Okposo last played on November 13 against Vancouver where he played 16 shifts and was a -1.

- The Islanders also announced that Al Montoya has been placed on the injured reserve retroactively to Tuesday November 15.

With the return of Sidney Crosby to the Penguins lineup tomorrow night, the National TV rights holders have opted to feature tomorrow night’s Islanders and Penguins.

CBC was the first network to make the announcement that they will broadcast the game. They will air a special edition of Hockey Night in Canada on Monday. Jim Hughson and Craig Simpson will be on the call with Glenn Healy between the benches.

Versus made the announcement that they will broadcast the game nationally in the US an hour after CBC made their announcement. They were originally scheduled to carry the Boston Bruins – Montreal Canadiens game at 7:30. Versus will have Dave Strader and Pierre McGuire call the game.

The game will also be aired, as scheduled, on MSG Plus with the regular Islanders broadcast crew of Howie Rose and Butch Goring.

The game is catching national attention due to the climactic return of Penguins superstar Sidney Crosby. Crosby has not played since January 5 of this year due to a concussion.

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